ANT. 453 



unprovided with the means of procuring it for themselves, and be- 

 ing separated from those by whose bounty they had hitherto been 

 fed. The females, when impregnated, seek proper habitations, 

 where, as will afterwards appear, they lay the foundations of new 

 republics. 



All the impregnated females however are not lost, in this way, 

 to the parent state : many are detained by the labourers before they 

 can take their flight, and a few are impregnated in the nest itself. 

 The labourers are every where lying in wait for them, and forcibly 

 seize them wherever they are to be found j they immediately deprive 

 them of their wings, and drag them to the nest. Here they are 

 kept close prisoners for several days : their keepers watching them 

 with the greatest assiduity, but carefully supplying them with nou- 

 rishment, and conveying them to situations where the temperature 

 is the most grateful. 



The eggs, when first deposited, are very small, white, opaque, 

 and of a cylindrical form. The labourers, to whom the care of 

 hatching them is confided, never quit them for a moment, but keep 

 them in a state of moisture, by licking them continually with their 

 tongues, or passing them through their mouths. M. Huber has 

 clearly proved that the eggs acquire a considerable increase of size 

 during this period ; and that at length they become nearly transpa- 

 rent, and much distended, and resemble in form the larve that is 

 about to be excluded. A similar growth had already been noticed 

 by Reaumur in the eggs of the gall insect, and by Vallisneri in those 

 of some species of fly. At the end of a fortnight the larve comes 

 forth ; it is then perfectly transparent, consists only of a head 

 and rings, without even the rudiments of feet or antennas. In 

 this state it is likewise completely dependent on the labourers for 

 its support : their food is altogether liquid ; and their nurses allow 

 them to take it out of their mouths, without its appearing to have 

 undergone any preparation. The following passage will give some 

 idea of the care with which they are reared. 



In their passage to the state of perfect insects they still require 

 the fostering care of their guardians, and would be unable, without 

 their help, to extricate themselves from their inclosure. In these 

 efforts for their deliverance the labourers display surprising patience 

 and ingenuity ; and a lively picture is given of the scene that the 

 interior of the nest presents to the spectator, while the whole soci- 



2g3 



